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New TWI-developed system a boon for the automotive industry

TWI has played a critical role in an EU-funded project seeking to overcome issues affecting resistance spot welding in automotive production lines.

The SmartDress project saw a group of seven organisations from across Europe work together to improve the performance of welding electrode tips used in the manufacture of vehicles.

Resistance spot welding is the most commonly applied process for joining thin metal sheet in automotive body structures: a typical family car contains up to 5000 spot welds. The spot welding process offers a high level of reliability, with modern welding systems able to accurately control and monitor spot welding process times, currents and forces.

However, one aspect of the spot welding process that is not tightly controlled is the wear of the welding electrode tips. Zinc-coated steels cause rapid electrode degradation and aluminium is considered ‘non-spot weldable’ by many car companies as a result of electrode wear issues.

SmartDress is a new approach to electrode tip dressing comprising a complete automated solution to all the challenges faced when setting up and maintaining a resistance spot welding process.

The system incorporates five elements, including three totally new innovations: a new approach to electrode tip dressing, using an abrasive to clean electrode faces with a minimal removal of copper; an optical sensor to monitor the electrode condition; a computerised control system to process data from the optical sensor; a mechanical dresser designed to minimise copper removal during tip dressing; and an automated electrode tip changer, capable of removing worn tips and replacing them without the production cell needing to be shut down.

Problems with electrode tip maintenance are the number one cause of stoppages on car production lines, but SmartDress has the potential to change that. The system is currently being deployed at the Fiat-Chrysler plant in Melfi, Italy, where it is being used in the welding of the aluminium doors of the new Jeep Renegade.

For more information, please email contactus@twi.co.uk.

Avatar Sullivan Smith Automotive Programme Manager

Sullivan Smith joined TWI Ltd in 2011 where he holds the position of Automotive Programme Manager. Prior to that he was employed by Tata Steel from 1998 through to 2011, working in resistance welding R&D and support for the automotive industry.

Sullivan’s specialization is in resistance welding and mechanical fastening processes. His main tasks have been to provide technical support to the European automotive and general manufacturing sectors. In recent years Sullivan has worked on the joining of dissimilar metal alloys and metal to composite joining, and the joining of electrical connections for EV applications. He is also the UK expert on the ISO standard committees for resistance welding and mechanical fastening.

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